Sophie will be discussing the Brain Sex theory, which outlines ideas about how male and female brains might differ; based on exposure to hormones in utero. She will raise some crucial problems with these approaches, and give some specific examples from investigations into the brain basis of homosexuality.

Sophie says of herself: “I have been lucky enough to study human behaviour and cognitive neuroscience for over 20 years, and have been working with brain scanning techniques since the very early days. I’m really interested in what these techniques can, and cannot, tell us about our experiences and emotions.